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Prices good at all New Orleans, Gretna, Kenner, Metairie, Marrero, Slidell, Mandeville and Covington stores October 15th - 22nd, 2025.
F r i d ay, O c t O b e r 17, 2025
$2.00X
Budget crisis threatens N.O. trash pickup
Landry calls for special session
Supreme Court case may affect election schedule BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
New Orleans officials are considering whether to raise the fee for weekly trash pickups or cut recycling and other sanitation-related services to deal with a budget deficit.
50% increase in fees needed to avoid deep cuts, official says BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
The New Orleans budget fiasco will soon hit residents on their curbs or in their pocketbooks, as city officials wrestle with whether to raise the fee for weekly trash pickups or cut recycling and other sanitation-related services. Without a fee increase, the city’s sanitation department will operate on a barebones budget that barely covers the cost of curbside garbage hauling, according to Sanitation Director Matt Torri, who addressed the City Council on Thursday at a hearing on the department’s proposed
budget for next year. In addition to cutting curbside and dropoff recycling, Torri said the department’s budget, which as proposed would drop from $71 million to $52 million, would require ending other quality-of-life sanitation services. The city would need to end contracts aimed at cleaning up illegal dump sites, litter removal and cleanups after special events. Gone would be the crews that pressure-wash the French Quarter. And forget about overtime: The $236,000 proposed allotment for that worker compensation isn’t even half of the price tag for Mardi Gras cleanup, not to mention other
large special events, Torri said. “Residents will experience a decrease in cleanliness and quality of life,” the sanitation department warned as part of a slide presentation to the City Council. “While we don’t advocate for these cuts, we did need to preserve solid waste collection services throughout the city, and in order to do so, this is where the cuts are being proposed,” Torri told council members. To prevent those service cuts, Mayor LaToya Cantrell is proposing to hike the monthly sanitation fee from $24 to $36 for
Residents defend levee police as budget grows BY ALEX LUBBEN
Staff writer
The police departments that patrol the New Orleans area lakefront have faced questions in recent weeks over a jump in their spending and SWAT-style training for the agency’s officers. On Thursday, residents of nearby neighborhoods gathered to discuss the recent changes and said they couldn’t be happier. During a meeting of the South
WEATHER HIGH 87 LOW 72 PAGE 8B
Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East’s board, residents from Lakeshore, Lake Vista and other nearby neighborhoods praised the agency’s police officers. They told Superintendent Joshua Rondeno they felt safer in their neighborhoods and were glad that the police were receiving additional equipment and training. “Give them whatever resources they need to be as professional as
ä See TRASH, page 10A
Gov. Jeff Landry on Thursday called for a special legislative session to begin on Oct. 23 to adjust next year’s election schedule — because of a legal challenge to Louisiana’s voting map for Congress. But exactly what lawmakers will try to do remains unclear, in part because stringent election rules limit the changes that the Secretary of State’s Office can allow them to make. Whatever change s l e g i s l a t o r s Landry agree on will likely have broad implications in determining which areas of Congress the six members of the U.S. House will represent. “We’re waiting for legislation from the Governor’s Office since he issued the call,” said Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie. “He hasn’t articulated yet which dates and what changes he wants. Once we have that, then we can begin the bill drafting for the session.” Landry’s call, which establishes what issues legislators can consider in the session, contains a single item: “to legislate relative to the election code, election dates, election deadlines, and election plans for the 2026 election cycle, and to provide for the funding thereof, if necessary.” It does not ask legislators to redraw the congressional map on a contingency basis, as Landry had wanted them to do. “We don’t want the Supreme
ä See SESSION, page 14A
La. Senate race draws millions of dollars Cassidy leads in fundraising
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Joshua Rondeno, superintendent of police at the Flood Protection Authority-East, received praise from residents at a board meeting on ä See LEVEE, page 10A Thursday.
the state’s new closed primary system, in which GOP candidates will all face off in an election to decide which single Republican will be on the ballot BY ALYSE PFEIL in November. Staff writer Campaign finance data shows There’s more than a year un- Cassidy has $9.5 million in the til Louisiana elects its next U.S. bank, by far the most of any senator, but millions of dollars candidate in the race. But two in campaign contributions are other candidates, state Sen. Blake Miguez and Louisiana already pouring in. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Treasurer John Fleming, each Rouge, is facing a crowded ä See SENATE, page 14A field of fellow Republicans in
Business ...................12A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................1E Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 66